Texas Governor Greg Abbott took to social media this week to celebrate the success of the state’s power grid throughout the recent winter storm.
Abbott posted a screenshot of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas’ dashboard from 4:00 p.m. Monday showing a 45,000 megawatt gap between demand and committed capacity.
He also posted a message saying, “The Texas power grid made it through this bitter winter storm with plenty of surplus power. The homes that don’t have power are the result of local power line problems caused by falling trees and even car wrecks destroying power poles.”
And now it appears there is a new push in the fight to keep the state’s power grid humming.
Some energy experts are calling on state lawmakers to shift their focus over to making sure low and middle income homes get the same protection.
Energy consultant Alison Silverstein says more efficient homes use less power.
“People are still exposed to bad weather and we haven’t done the easiest possible thing to reduce demand on the grid,” Silverstein said. “We could lower winter electric demand by 15 or 20 gigawatts.”
Past attempts at the Texas Capitol have fallen flat, however. State lawmakers have opposed “forced” government mandates when it comes to replacing gas heating with expensive heat pumps.
